Earth -1 ........

Dark Multiverse........

..........

[Unknown POV]

Hehehehe........ Ok, now let's try something new, shall we?

Hang on. Don't say no just yet ....... I promise it's going to be ..... Heh heh …. Haha..... Enlightening, if I do say so myself.

And before you go about wondering what, no. This isn't going to be another lame joke. Bah! No, not another one of those.

For the first time in ...... A while. Old Laughs is going to get serious........ Well, as serious as I can get...... Hahahahaha.....

Don't worry, It'll be sure to catch your interest.

Now....... What would you do if you knew that no matter what you did, no matter how hard you tried, everything around you would eventually collapse into nothingness?

That someone's every fear, every bad decision they made, every wrong thought they ever conjured up would give birth to a malformed existence?

A world that shouldn't exist.

One's doomed to rot apart, and die because they are ultimately wrong at their core.

And then, you found out that ....... Hehehehe....... That you were living in it? That your very reality was someone else's nightmare.

Destined to host all sorts of nightmarish events. And you, as a resident, would have to live through the horrors that would eventually unfold.

How does it sound? Creepy right?

You probably don't believe me. For something so absurd to be reality ....... Na … It's not like you don't believe it. Rather, you don't want to believe it.

You would rather believe that what I'm saying right now is nothing more than a poorly baked horror story.

One your parents once used to put a little fright into you and your possible siblings at night to convince you to stop being naughty and go to bed early.

A figment of someone's bad tastes....... Honestly, I once thought the same. But that's where the big joke lies.

I was wrong and if I'm wrong ...... Then so are you. And if you don't see the proof already ....... Hehehehehe, then I'm the living witness.

For those who don't know who I am, you can call me 'Laughs'. And how do I know all this, you may ask?

Because I was there. There when my world began to shake and the cosmic nothingness swallowed everything I knew.

I thought I would fade away with the rest of my world ....... Until the jolly old Dragon appeared ....... Hehehehe….

Funny guy if you ask me, with a lot of ideas. Not that I'd care for them, but boy, they sure sound fun.

So welcome ........ to the Dark Multiverse. Home to stories that should never be…

Moving on ....... He told me that my world was unstable. One meant to rot apart from the very beginning regardless of my actions. My path was determined right from the start because from the very beginning, I wasn't the real deal but a nightmare of my original.

The living incarnation of The Dark Knight's greatest fear, to become the Joker.

It turned out it was all one big cosmic joke...... Only, no one on my side was laughing. Well..... Almost no one. Haha hahaha hahaha Hahahahaha.........

So I set out to work, full of great enthusiasm at his proposal. How interesting it would be to see my counterpart from the positive multiverse whose fears quite literally created me.

Of course, to complete an invasion wouldn't be an easy task. Why was that? Because I knew me. And if the me from over there was anything like me, then he would be difficult to deal with.

Two great minds competing against each other to discover the other's next move would certainly be fascinating.......

But then again...... When was I ever one to play fair?

The outcome might be unpredictable with one Batman against one Batman........ But what if there were more? Three, six, ten ......... That was my job. To find my other counterparts and pull them out of their rotting universes to join us before they finally collapsed.

Following which, I sought to complete my task, arriving at the first stop on my long journey.

Earth -1. A world only days away from completely collapsing.

At least ....... That was what I thought.

Upon arrival, I immediately realized what was so terrible about this universe.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Similar to my world, someone had gone crazy. However, it wasn't the Batman this time but the Man Of steel who had gone rogue.

Noticing this, I did nothing but waited. Waiting for the world to fade away, degenerate and be devoured by the cosmic nothingness when this world's Batman was pushed to the brink.

Wait till when there was nothing left but him.

......... But strangely enough, that day never came. Two months ago, I came to this planet, and two months I waited. Yet strangely enough, the devastation signalled due to the instability of the universe never came.

At first, I didn't understand why...... Until I did.

“Another portal to the Positive Multiverse .......”.

Ace chemicals.......

Looking at the flickering portal floating a ten inches above the ground, my widened grin, if possible, grew wider.

“....... How interesting ...... Wait till I see what Barbatos makes out of this”.

The long black leather trench coat blew with the cold evening wind that seemed to be present even within this place.

Ace Chemicals in Gotham city, as an enclosed structure, wasn't supposed to have this wind.

Unless of course...... It wasn't enclosed. Contrary to how it was nearly six months ago, the building structure that was previously abandoned was now completely ruined.

The chemical plant was wrecked in every area with large holes open, no matter where I turned my gaze. Of course, courtesy of Superman.

This was the aftermath of his successful attempt on the Joker's life. Following which, he tore the man apart and Gotham city followed in a similar tune.

“...... But then again .....”. I put my hand on my chin.

“Why do I have to tell him?”

This world hadn't collapsed like his after so long for two reasons. One, the energy secreted from this portal temporarily stabilized this universe...... And two, this earth, for some reason, hadn't reached its end yet.

For the other, I knew why. The arrival of the Wonder Woman from another universe had significantly changed matters here.

The day Superman killed his wife and child, Batman had decided that their Clark Kent was beyond saving and was prepared to use any means to end him.

While Superman went on another killing spree, murdering the other forces who stood in his path, the remnants of the Justice League gathered together to stage a final attack against the Man Of Steel.

A life and death battle to finally decide the outcome. In this timeline, everyone but Bruce Wayne would die and that Batman would be forced to release the Doomsday Virus to kill Superman.

Following which, this universe would ultimately fade away. But the arrival of another Wonder woman from another Earth caused major changes.

Seeing another way, Batman, and the resistance didn't engage in the final battle against Superman and decided to wait. Wait for the Justice League of her earth to come to their aid.

Hence, two months had passed, and I had found four of such breaches all over the world. This ....... Was taking longer than I thought it would.

If this world didn't crumble away, my first mission would be a failure. But that was impossible.

The sinister smile ever present on my face gave off a cold gleam.

In my own universe, I had never failed in any of my endeavors. Be it the Bat family, or the world government, the Justice League, Superman...... Against me, none of them could stand.

No matter what they threw at me neither an army of villains nor alien tyrants were worth mentioning. At best, they were just problems to solve. One by one, methodically. With precision and blood.

Hehehehe...... After all, my Countermeasures weren't for nothing.

Since this world didn't want to collapse on its own ........... Then there was nothing wrong with giving it a helping hand.

The heart of this world's Batman was already gone. All he needed was a little extra push in the …. Wrong direction.

Then I would take him, and gather the rest of us. The Dark Knights would assemble.

“As for the positive multiverse........”. Looking at the breach before me, I lowered my head with unknown thoughts within it.

Barbatos was supposed to open the way to the Main multiverse, so every nightmare ever thought of would join in their invasion. That would take time, But now ........ A breach leading there was open already.

“Hehehehe hahaha Hahahahaha.....”. My loud, raucous laughter resounded within the ruins of Ace chemicals as I turned around, about to leave.

With the confirmation of the fourth breach, my work was just beginning. Now, the first thing I needed to do was find this world's version of Bruce Wayne.

It happened then. The rectangular device within my grasp began to glow while releasing several beeping sounds. The streaks of yellow that could be found around its edges brightened and dimmed irregularly.

"Huh?" My body froze for a moment in surprise. Following which, I turned around to see the portal behind me. However, there was no change on the surface.

At that moment, a sound emerged in my consciousness, letting me know exactly what it wanted me to know.

Following which, a holographic screen emerged above the rectangular box, displaying the video of what it wanted to portray.

This device was The Fatherbox. Just one of the many weapons of mass destruction I had obtained from the Watchtower after I slaughtered the Justice League of my earth.

Taking it out of confinement, it had bound itself to me and acknowledged me as its master.

Therefore, I understood what it was trying to tell me as the hologram split in two.

The first screen clearly showed the picture of one of the previous three breaches I had encountered. At the moment, it was glowing while releasing massive energy fluctuations.

And the readings being emitted stated exactly what was about to happen. Something....... Or someone from the other side was coming through.

The other side being the positive multiverse......... And speaking of the other side.

My gaze turned towards the second screen, and then .......... I couldn't resist the smile widening on my already smiling face.

"Hahahahaha hahaha Hahahahaha". Neither could I resist the laugh that came after. I never could. After all, it was always thrilling when you what would happen before it happened.

When you were familiar with every combination on the deck, and you could predict exactly what came next.

And that was exactly what I was experiencing right now. The cards on the deck could be likened to the scene on the screen I was seeing right now.

And I saw through it all.

Looks like I didn't have to wait too long. As the remnants of the Justice League were finally battling the Superman of this earth.

Now, all I had to do was sit back, relax and watch the carnage